By Basil Obasi
AS the world celebrates the 2017 World Water Day, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources has undertaken a critical review of how it has fared under the stewardship of Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu. Upon assumption of office in November 2015, Engr. Adamu reiterated the need for the country to evolve a dynamic and coherent water resources ministry with the core mandate of providing sustainable access to safe and sufficient water resources to meet the cultural, social and economic development needs of all Nigerians, for all uses, in ways that contribute to enhancing public health, food security and poverty alleviation, while maintaining the integrity of freshwater ecosystems of the nation.
Few months later, he launched the medium & long term strategic documents for water sector tagged: the roadmap (2016 – 2030), a landmark document developed to support sustainable development in the water sector and the nation’s food security.
The water resource roadmap has been described as a fit-for-purpose policy document that has helped the Federal Ministry of Water Resources under the stewardship of Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu, FNSE to assume its rightful place as the fulcrum of sustainable development.
In line with the policies and programmes outlined in the roadmap, the ministry has completed proceedings towards re-positioning the 12 River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) to enable the agencies carry out their core function of supporting all-year farming to boost food security, create jobs and serve as the key instrument for the diversification of the national economy – a key agenda of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Another key achievement of the minister include the launch of a partnership for expanded water supply, sanitation and hygiene (PEWASH) expected to gulp over 150 billion naira; launch of the gazette on water use and license 2016 document, which seeks to address a lot of issues like protection, conservation, control, equitable development and maintenance of environmental integrity of the nation’s freshwater and non-freshwater, including its strategies for achieving set goals in the sector.
The 2016 report of the United Nations World Water Development said half of the global workforce is employed in eight water and natural resource-dependent industries. Upon assumption of office in November 2015, Engr. Adamu reiterated the need for the country to evolve a dynamic and coherent water resources ministry with the core mandate of providing sustainable access to safe and sufficient water resources.
One year down the line, the question is “how has the ministry fared under the amiable leadership of Engr. Suleiman Adamu? I wish to x-ray the various policy trajectories of the ministry, its plans and programmes, observable success stories and defects witnessed in the water sector over the last one year.
Over the last one year, the ministry has been able to achieve remarkable milestones which speak volumes of Adamu’s doggedness and commitment towards enhancing the sector’s contribution towards achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Few months after assuming office, he launched the medium & long term strategic documents for water sector tagged: the Roadmap (2016 – 2030). This is to support sustainable development in the Water Sector, the nation’s food security goals and guarantee lasting prosperity of our dear Country.
In line with policies and programmes outlined in the roadmap, the ministry is moving towards repositioning the 12 River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) to carry out their core function of supporting all-year farming to boost food security, create jobs and serve as the key instrument for the diversification of the national economy – a key agenda of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Another key achievement of the minister is the construction of the small water supply schemes in various states, which are expected to boost national access to potable water in Nigeria. The launch of a Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) is expected to gulp over 150 billion naira and bring states, and the federal and local governments together, towards improving access to potable water supply in the near future. Engr. Adamu has also initiated a bilateral engagement to organise an international conference on Lake Chad, to draw international attention to the drastic drying up of the Lake Chad basin, in order to save the over 47 million people living around the lake who depend solely on it for farming, fishing, livestock production as well as water supply for drinking/sanitation.
The Minister has also commenced the auditing of the ongoing water projects in the country. He stated that with the technical audit of 117 abandoned water projects, the ministry will complete about 25% of the viable ones in the Year 2017 appropriation. The Ministry would not be involved in the construction of new projects, but will complete part of the abandoned 117 water projects nationwide.
Just recently, the ministry launched the gazette on water use. Since assuming office as the Minister of Water Resources in November 2016, Engr. Suleiman has brought his diverse wealth of professional engineering and business experience to bear on the Nigerian water sector.
His visionary leadership has catalysed positive impact in the Industry, especially with the recent approval of the Nigerian Water Bill, National Water Policy and the National Irrigation Policy by the Federal Executive Council. He is currently leading an initiative to ensure that Nigeria attains the UN Sustainable Development Goals, (Goal 6), by collaborating with various stakeholders under the PEWASH programme.
The government of Nigeria recently midwifed a contract agreement between the River Basin Development Authorities (RB-DAs) and the Songhai Nigeria Partnership Ltd., to generate 1,200 jobs nationwide in three years. At the signing ceremony, Engr. Sulei-man Adamu said the objective is to strengthen the RBDAs to become major economic nerve centres in line with the economic diversification agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
“These centres would be along the Songhai Farm settlement style, exploring the Public-Private Partnership model in ownership and financing, while the RBDAs will be the primary delivery vehicles. The main objec-tive of this scheme is massive job creation for youths, with a year round agricultural production and other value chain activities such as processing, storage, markets, e-commerce etc.
Each of these centres will have a minimum of 50 graduate employees nationwide,” the minister said. In all of these, it has been proven that without water resources ministry, there could be no agricultural and environmental sustainability. And, in a government that has economic diversification as its mantra, this will be like sculpting an iron statue with mud feet.
Obasi writes from Abuja